Ave Maria de Gounod

Ave Maria de Gounod In 1853, French composer Charles Gounod (1818 – 1893) set the Latin Ave Maria to a melody that floats over the first prelude from Bach's (1685 – 1750) Well-Tempered Clavier: Book I (1717 / 23). The work was called »Meditation sur le Ier prélude de Bach« (Meditation on the First Prelude of Bach). Gounod thought the piece nothing more than a little musical prank, but, to his consternation, it soon became his best-known composition. It has been transcribed for every possible…